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Archives for January 2022

CD Review —
Jesse Jones: In Profile

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by Peter Feher

The path to finding an artistic voice might start in music school, but it doesn’t end when you graduate — or even if you become the professor. That process of self-discovery is what connects the five otherwise contrasting pieces on Jesse Jones: In Profile, the latest release on the Oberlin Music label, dedicated to works by faculty composer Jesse Jones.

Like the title suggests, In Profile offers a portrait. The assortment of compositions featured on the album — all recorded here for the first time and in top-notch performances by Oberlin faculty, students, and guest artists — comes from a six-year period in Jones’ career, 2009-2015.

[Read more…]

CD Review — Pianist Xak Bjerken in The Oberlin Concertos

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Three remarkable concertos commissioned from members of the Oberlin composition faculty showcase one remarkable pianist in The Oberlin Concertos, released last fall on the Conservatory’s music label.

The pianist is Xak Bjerken, whose greatest talent is perhaps his balancing act. Every note is infused with expression, yet his individuality never spills over to eclipse the compositional voices of Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones. Those same words could just as easily describe conductor Timothy Weiss, who leads the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble with the ultimate combination of precision, musicality, and musical vision.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, January 12, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

ON THE SCHEDULE:

Two recitals bookend the day. Faculty cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman gives a free 12:15 pm concert on the Dana School of Music’s noontime series at the Butler Institute of American Art. And the Fine Arts Association hosts faculty trombonist Matthew Saunders in a performance of his own Twenty Views of the Trombone at 7:00 pm. Get tickets here.

ARTS FUNDING, A RESIGNATION, AND A PASSING:

Yesterday, the National Endowment for the Arts announced the recipients of 1,498 awards totaling $33.2 million. Ohio alone took home $1,065,000 over 45 grants, including funding for Apollo’s Fire, Case Western, CityMusic Cleveland, CIM, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Tri-C Foundation and Tri-C Jazz Fest, Les Délices, The Cleveland Orchestra, and many more. Read the press release here, and view the state-by-state listing here.

Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Humanities has announced 208 projects receiving grants totalling $24.7 million. Projects related to music cover such topics as Indigenous hip-hop musicians, West African melody in African American music, preparing a critical edition of Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria rusticana, Medieval music at Worcester Benedictine Cathedral Priory, connections between music research and American zoology, the history of jazz and hip-hop in Queens, NY, and experimental scores by avant-garde composers of the mid-20th-century — projects centered in Riverside, CA, Atlanta, GA, Baton Rouge, LA, Waltham, MA, New Brunswick, NJ, Queens, NY, and Houston, TX, respectively. See the full list here.

[Read more…]

CD Review — Fire & Grace’s Alma: from Baroque to Basque, and back again

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by Stephanie Manning

To create their latest album, violinist Edwin Huizinga and guitarist William Coulter drew inspiration from the natural world. The duo, known as Fire & Grace, recorded their third project together among the redwoods of Northern California.

“We were both moved by the deep beauty, profound passion and joy, and the soul that we found in this music,” Coulter said when the album was announced. The result, Alma (Spanish for “soul”), is full of folksy charm, combining Baroque music with melodies from Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Sweden.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Tuesday, January 11, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S AGENDA

Today’s Tuesday Noon online-only concert from the Church of the Covenant features violist Christopher Jenkins and organist Christa Rakich of the Oberlin Conservatory faculty in music by Adolphus Hailstork, William Grant Still, and Paul Hindemith. The video will remain available for viewing on demand.

COVID CANCELLATIONS AND CHANGES:

Citing concerns for the health of its musicians and staff, The Cleveland Orchestra has withdrawn from its late January residency in South Florida, including concerts and education activities at the Adrienne Arsht Center, Kravis Center, and Artis—Naples. Read the press release here.

The Operas in Place series co-sponsored by Baldwin Wallace, Cleveland Opera Theater, and On-Site Opera, that was to have presented nine micro-operas online over three days from January 14-16, has now been postponed to February.

NEWS BRIEFS:

The Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition is now receiving applications for both the senior and junior divisions of its 2022 competition, to be held in South Bend, Indiana in May. A new feature this year is the “Lift Every Voice Prize,” focusing on works by Black and/or Hispanic/Latino/a composers. Read a Violin Channel press release here.

INTERESTING READ:

Writing in yesterday’s issue of The Gramophone, Tim Ashley makes a case for re-evaluating the puzzling career and legacy of Camille Saint-Saëns a month after the centenary of the composer’s death in 1921. [Read more…]

DIARY: Monday, January 10, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

WHO WAS ROBBIE BURNS?

Five days before Burns Day, which celebrates that great Scottish poet of the late 18th century, Les Délices will honor Scotland’s national bard with the release of “The Highland Lassie.” The program — filmed at Dunham Tavern and premiering online on Thursday, January 20 — is a collection of Scots songs and reels from the 17th and 18th centuries ranging from folk music to art music, and evoking settings from the alehouse to the salon. Read about the life of Robert Burns in an article by Hannah De Priest here, and purchase tickets here.

CALENDAR REVISIONS:

Several events from the Canton Symphony previously scheduled for early 2022 have been postponed. “A Planets Odyssey” has been rescheduled for May 22, “Hey Monea Meets the Symphony” has been moved to June 9, and “Triumphant Tchaikovsky” will take place on June 25. Tickets will be honored on the new dates, or you can exchange them for other performances in the same series. Dates for “Community Jam Night” at Buzzbin and “Spirited Conversations” are still to be announced.

R.I.P. DALE CLEVENGER:

The principal horn of the Chicago Symphony for 47 years, and an accomplished horn teacher and conductor, Dale Clevenger passed away on January 5 of Waldenstrom’s disease. He was 81. Read an obituary by Frank Villella here on the CSO’s website. Upon his retirement from the Orchestra in 2013, several of his colleagues performed a concert in his honor — an event that also included a tribute video, which you can watch here.

INTERESTING READS:

Given the Omicron variant’s effect on live performance schedules in recent weeks, Jeff Lundlen of NPR shines a spotlight on the figures who have kept some Broadway shows afloat: substitutes, including swings, understudies, and standbys. Read the article here.

[Read more…]

Diary: Weekend, January 7-9, 2022 

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by Daniel Hathaway

EVENTS THIS WEEKEND:

Two opportunities remain to hear The Cleveland Orchestra perform Hans Abrahamsen’s Vers le silence and Igor Levit (pictured) as soloist in Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto. Franz Welser-Möst gives the downbeat in Mandel Concert Hall at the Severance Music Center on Friday at 7:30 pm and Saturday at 8:00 pm. Photo: Roger Mastroianni. You’ll need proof of full vaccination — including a booster shot — to attend, and tickets can be ordered online.

Organist Nicole Keller will give a recital on the rarely-heard-these-days Holtkamp instrument in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday at 2:30 pm. The menu includes works by J.S. Bach, Calvin Hampton, Rayner Brown, Paul Hindemith, Mozart & Florence Price. It’s free.  (NOTE: this recital has been postponed until spring due to the COVID surge.)

NEWS BRIEFS:

Aronson Cello Festival comes to Cleveland this summer

Cleveland Orchestra cellist Brian Thornton, one of the last students of Lev Aronson, who survived the atrocities of the Nazis to become principal of the Dallas Symphony and a beloved mentor to young cellists, founded a festival in Aronson’s honor. Thornton writes,

We are holding our next festival in Cleveland between June 6-12, 2022, at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at Severance Music Center. The events will span seven days and will include special programming filled with memorable performances and world class artists — in addition to innovative and interactive speakers and sessions called “LevTalks” that will inspire, inform, reflect upon, provoke, challenge and confirm the modern world of classical music around us. In this time of rapid change with the arts under siege, we must find ways to connect and embrace our community. [Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, January 16, 2022

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by Mike Telin

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 pm Franz Welser-Möst will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in Hans Abrahamsen’s Vers le silence and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Igor Levit in the Mandel Concert Hall at Severance, 11001 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. Performances run through Saturday. Tickets available online.

Click here to watch the pianist’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert from November 29, 2019.

IN THE NEWS: 

The Cleveland Museum of Art is home to the longest-running concert series of any museum of North America, presenting more than 5,000 concerts over the course of its first century.

In launching the Recorded Archive Editions, CMA will make available historically significant recordings of performances that were exceptional and unique to Cleveland.

[Read more…]

Nothing boring about events scheduled for January 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

Although the momentum of musical events in Northeast Ohio typically slows down after the December holidays, and The Omicron Variant — which sounds like a new Robert Ludlum spy thriller — has led to a few cancellations and postponements this time around, the concert calendar still offers an interesting variety of performances. Here’s a rundown.

ORCHESTRAS

The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes Franz Welser-Möst back to town to lead three programs and the local debuts of two new works. On January 6, 7, and 8, Hans Abrahamsen’s Vers le silence shares a program featuring Igor Levit (pictured above) in Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, and on the 13th, 14th, and 15th, Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Intensity will separate two symphonies — Mozart’s No. 36 and Dvořák’s No. 8.

Vinay Parameswaran will lead The Cleveland Orchestra and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Chorus on January 16 in the 42nd annual event celebrating the slain civil rights leader, in whose honor the Orchestra will also host a Community Day on January 17. The latter event features performances by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Youth Chorus, members of The Cleveland Orchestra, and a gospel ensemble. [The January 16 concert has now been postponed to Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 7:00 pm. The January 17 event is also postponed, new date TBA.]

The Akron Symphony has postponed two January-February concerts to the spring and summer, but the Youngstown Symphony will feature Cleveland Orchestra assistant concertmaster Stephen Tavani in the Brahms Concerto on January 16, and the Cleveland Pops will welcome jazz trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling as guest artist in a Severance performance on January 22.

OPERA

While Grand Opera remains an elusive art form in these parts, micro operas are alive and flourishing, and viewers can enjoy nine of them courtesy of Baldwin Wallace Voice Performance, Cleveland Opera Theater, and On Site Opera in three online broadcasts on January 14, 15, and 16. There’ll be an opportunity to talk back with the composers and librettists at the end of each half-hour performance. Details in our Concert Listings. [Note: these events have been rescheduled for February.] [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, January 5, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

ABRAHAMSEN & LEVIT:

Based on The Cleveland Orchestra’s program this week — Hans Abrahamsen’s Vers le silence followed by Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto in the hands of Igor Levit — there are two articles from the past couple of years worth revisiting.

First, a profile of Levit (above) by Alex Ross in The New Yorker from May 2020, which covers his series of house concerts from early in the pandemic (the way they began is not how you would expect), his voracious and omnivorous taste in music, his cultural status in German-speaking countries, his leftist politics, the death threats he has received from the far right (and the concerts at which those threats were purportedly to occur), and more. [Read more…]

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